Tag: Music

Last Things and Things that Last

Last Visit to Wigmore Hall

It was another drizzling Monday in London and it was the day of the last Wigmore Hall Monday Afternooon concert I would see this year. It was a great one! Pianist Alexandre Tharaud played Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A. He then went on to play improvisations on songs by Piaf (Poulenc’s Homage), Jaques Brel (“Don’t Leave Me,” made popular by Rod McKuen as “If You Go Away”), Pesson abd Trenet. Theraud played brilliantly and even teased and joked with the BBC Radio 3 presenter. It was an uplifting and joyful experience.

A New Exhibit and an Unplanned Tour of the Wiener Holocaust Museum

I had looked forward to seeing the new exhibit at the Wiener Holocaust Library on Russell Square. The Exhibit is called “Finding Ivy-A Life Worth Living (The Story of British-born Victims of the Nazis’ T4 Programme). ‘Aktion’ or Aktion T4, as it was known after the war was a Nazi program in Germany and Austria from 1940-41 which killed some 70,000 adults with mental or physical disabilities, living in institutions. It was deemed so horrible that the Nazis were forced to stop it. The exhibit focuses on several British-born people caught in the horror.

The exhibit was difficult to view, heartbreaking and sad. But, as all the Wiener Library exhibits do, it reminds the visitor why we must never let such a regime into power. Never Again!

Unexpectedly, for me, the Library was offering free tours of the entire facility. One normally only sees the large double room in the front on the ground (first) floor where the exhibits are shown. We saw the “book store,” the basement floor containing an incredible number of books, newpapers, physical objects that the library owns and we heard the story of Dr. Albert Wiener who started the collection in the Netherlands after the Nazis took power in Germany and managed to get it shipped to London before they took the Netherlands. While he escaped to London, he could not arrange visas for his wife and three daughters. He did manage to get them false Paraguayan passports which saved them from the gas chambers, but did not stop them from being put into a camp for foreigners, once the war started in ernest. The four women survived the camps and did manage to be included in a prisoner exchange. Sadly, Mrs. Wiener had been very ill in the camp, giving all of her rations to her daughters. She died before reaching England. Their daughters did survive and join their father.

Among other exhibits we were shown during the tour were the tragic last message from a German nurse who had escaped to England and her family in Germany. We also had the opportunity to hold in our hands one of the horrendous yellow Star of David badges all Jews were forced to wear.

We also saw the research library where people with family members in Germany and Austria who were killed in the Holocaust can do research along with students and scholars from around the world. In addition, much of the collection has been digitzed and can be accessed on line.

Visiting a House that Preserves a Time Gone By

Standen is an Arts and Crafts style country house in East Grinstead, Sussex England. I met my friends Nigel and Gwynne Grant at the East Grinstead Train Station and we made our way the short distance to Standen and its extensive gardens. Arts and Crafts was a style greatly influenced by the designer William Morris.

As you can see, the furniture. wall coverings, and objets d’art are exquisite and preserved beautifully.

While it was past the prime viewing season for the gardens, they still were lovely.

I’m not sure, but this fellow might be just back from Portland Oregon’s No Kings Day.

Well, this leaves me with one week to go. I still have a few interesting adventures.

Above, Nigel and me standing in the Standen garden. Photo by Gwynne.

Days of Culture, Days of Fun, Days of Confusion and (of course) Late Bloomers

Days of Culture

It has been a period of time where I saw another West End Production, and revisited an old favorite.

“Punch” is a powerful production about the impacts of youth culture and how one thoughtless act (a punch, thrown in support of one’s group can have a lifetime impact on multiple people and families.

The production included current music, flashing lights and the cutaway” technique of short scenes that changed quickly. The enselble cast was outstanding.

Below are a couple of shots of the Picadilly Circus area near the theatre.

I book the concerts I will see on Sunday mornings and Monday afternoons at Wigmore Hall in early Spring as soon as the booking period for “Friends of Wigmore Hall” opens. In my excitement, or due to the quality of performers, I occasionally book “back to back” Sunday and Monday concerts. That is what happened recently. And, so, only one bouquet is shown because it was there, looking fresh at both the Sunday and Monday performances.

Sunday’s performers were soloists from the Kronberg Academy.

Hana Chang, a brilliant violinist was just one of the performers.

The repetoire included pieces by Robert Schuman, Ernő Dohnányi, and Johannes Brahms.

Mondays performance was, as always recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio. Performing were the Kleio Quartet. Beow is a photo.

Their selections oncluded pieces by Elgar, Webern and Haydn. They played superbly. Elgar is always warmly received by London audiences, but all three of these pieces received laud applause from the audience. It was a truly delightful afternoon of music.

The final bit of culture was a return to my favorite museum, the Victoria and Albert. Here are just two pieces that caught my eye.

Dormer Window from Montal, Dordogne (1523-35)

These rare pieces, hundreds of years old remind us of the rich cultural heritage we all share and through casting and saving pieces through restoration, we have to enjoy today.

Birthday Fun

One of the great things about being in London in early October is the chance to celebrate the birthday of the older of two of my “nearly-grandnieces.” These are the granddaughters of my longest-standing English friends, Nigel and Gwynne and the daughters of their son and daughter-in-law, the amazing accomplished James and Katie. Below is a picture of the venue, a great community space, and a picture I took from my Uber along the way. The party was a wonderful chance to catch up with James and Katie’s extended families and to be reminded of how much noise a bunch of happy, healthy ten year olds can make.

Days of Confusion

I had several roller-coaster days after contacting a few “estate agents,” as real estate agents are known on this side of the pond. I saw one very small efficiency flat and then after a day or two of not expecting to hear further, I got a call from the agency closest to my current rental flat. The agent had a listing in my favorite building and the flat was perfect, a dream come true. My proposed offer was acceptable and I was “on the mountain top. Then came “Death Valley Days” (without Ronald Reagan or Twenty Mule-Team Borax). This was occasioned by a discussion with a mortgage brokerwho oepened my eyes to the ageism and insane taxing process of buying property in England. Basically, if you are an old f*rt, and you are not a UK citizen, bring a full cash offer, or don’t come to the party. It was a “fasten your seatbelts, its going to be a bumpy night,” (to quote Bette Davis in “All About Eve.”) kind of experience. But, I learned from it.

Late Bloomers

Flowers keep blooming in the two parks closest to the flat I am staying in. Enjoy.

Bonus Picture

Several weeks ago, when my dear friends Barbara and Kuhrt were in London from Denmark, we had dinner at a charming French restaurant next to Orange Square where this statue of a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “lives.” I forgot to post it at the time.

I have 19 days left on this trip. I hope to have a few more posts.

Music on Sunday/Theatre on Monday & Talk

Another Sunday morning concert at Wigmore Hall. As I arrived, it occurred to me, as it has before, how

unprepossessing it is from outside. It’s almost easy to miss among the porticos and fancy fronts of the buildings nearby. The world inside, especially for these morning concerts, though, reminds me of how special it is.

This Sunday’s performers were the Zemlinsky Quartet. They are a Czech quartet who met as students in

Prague. Their website explains their name with these words, “Zemlinsky Quartet is named after the Austrian composer, conductor and teacher Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942), whose enormous contribution to Czech, German and Jewish culture during his 16-year residence in Prague had been underrated until recently. His four string quartets (the second one being dedicated to his student and brother-in-law Arnold Schönberg) belong to the basic repertoire of the ensemble. Since 2005, the quartet has maintained a special relationship with the Alexander Zemlinsky Foundation in Vienna.”

The program on Sunday was Mozart’s String Quartet No. 18 in C and Dvořák’s String Quartet in E flat. Each work was performed to perfection. The Mozart was more familiar to me and so it was easier to get lost in the music and enjoy the flow of stringed instruments. The Dvořák work was great. It was new to me, but I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

It was a chilly day and surprisingly cooler after the concert than before. I did catch up with two of my local friends in the afternoon at Caffe Tropea. One of my luckiest accomplishments this trip has been connecting with this group of folks of regulars. These two ladies are delightfully forthright and love to tease me about American views. I love to tease them about the outlandish things that the British press say about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (aka Harry and Megan). The more we talked and laughed, the more I learned about our similarities and differences. Their country is a constitutional monarchy with its unwritten constitution and its social democracy that has been controlled by the Conservative Party (the Tories) for much of the last 50 years. We live in a democratic republic with a written constitution and a capitalist economy with aspects of social welfare programs at a much lower level of coverage than theirs. Our national government has been split between the two major political parties for much of the last 50 years and the 50 State governments are split, as well. I don’t think it is easy for either Americans or British to fully appreciate how different our two societies are in terms of how basic rights of citizenship are defined, exercised and accepted. The postwar generations also encountered vastly different lives. We in America were not rebuilding a bomb-ravaged infrastructure or playing in bomb craters or bombed out buildings for years after the war. We were living a different life. As I found in my years with Sister Cities in Alexandria, Virginia and Caen, France, there is no better way to understand people’s lives than to spend time with them in their own space. It is always time well-spent.

Monday was another chance for me to learn more about the United Kingdom from other friends and then to see a preview performance of a wonderful new musical play. But the day started with a quick Tube trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. I’ve mentioned it before as my favorite museum and sometimes a just need a little “V&A” fix. It never fails. Upon entering the Exhibition Road Entrance, I was looking over the schematic layout on the wall. One of the outstanding volunteers asked if I needed help and we ended up having a delightful ten-minute chat covering the recent funeral of Her Late Majesty to favorite pieces in the museum and, of course, the perennial topic, the London weather. I then spent some time enjoying some galleries before going to my “happy place,” the Cast Courts that, as Wikipedia describes them, contain “reproductions of some of the most famous sculptures in the world. Most of the copies were made in the 19th century and in many cases, they have better resisted the ravages of time, 20th-century pollution and over-zealous conservation than the originals.” Afterwords, I returned home and caught up with two other friends for coffee at Caffe Tropea. These two, are politically aware and astute and gave me a great tutorial on The Labour Party from the second half of the 20th to now, and the beginning of their annual conference. We have had many great discussions on the subject of our two political systems over these two months. What a great addition, they too have made to my life.

The evening took me to a great theatre in Covent Garden, the Donmar Warehouse. Where the audience sits around three sides of the stage and there is no proscenium arch or curtain. I joke that this is the theatre where I made my West End debut. I was asked to hold up one end of a banner unfurled by an

You would never know it was a world class theatre.

an actor during a production of a Shakespeare play here. The preview I was here to see was “The Band’s Visit.” It is a simple sounding story of an Egyptian police department’s concert band, invited to play at the opening of an Arab cultural center in an Israeli city. A miscommunication causes them to travel to a tiny desert town with a name one letter different from the big city. The cast was wonderful, the music was incredible.

Alon Moni Aboutboul and Miri Mesika lead a cast that turn the stage into that tiny desert village. Ms. Mesika, an Israeli singer and actor has a voice that evokes the mood of the songs in a way that is heartbreaking and bittersweet. Mr. Aboutboul is the leader of this group of musicians, but also a police officer first, conflicted in his roles, and shows it perfectly as his performance continues. The musicians who are on stage much of time must, and do, have some acting talent and some of the actors must play instruments. The success of all is a credit to them. This was a truly delightful evening at the theater. The Donmar also always manages to have a very friendly and personable staff which adds to the ambience of the evening. I understand this show started as a movie. Definitely worth seeing.